Post navigation

50 Top Nursing Blogs

Degree Finder For Nurses

An important component of good blogging is telling stories and/or informing the reader. So it’s not surprising that some of the best such writing comes from nurse bloggers. Why? Because they’ve been both casual and involved observers in the collective human condition, and they have many stories to tell, judging by the hundreds of nursing-related blogs online.

We’ve browsed through some of those hundreds and picked our candidates for the top 50 nursing/ nursing-related blogs by nurses or nursing students for 2015. (Compare to our 2014 list of top nursing blogs.) Our selection is based on a number of factors:

Two independent Web domain and page ranking systems.

Change in rankings since 2014.

Recency and frequency of blogs.

Personal selection: it’s not just about posting frequency and quantity of posts or blog appearance but also about value, be it useful career information, innovative products, valuable news or even just a bit of humor to lighten the troubles of life.

Please note: some blogs have posts that are NSFW (Not Safe For Work), in terms of language used. While we try to do our best to flag such blogs, sometimes it is not possible to include a disclaimer for every blog.

Nurse Practitioner Business Owner is a blog that is aimed at advance practice clinicians running their own business. In addition to articles, the site provides resources. Owner Barbara Phillips also offers ways that you can pick her brain, as well as a forum on another site, webinars, and products and courses. Content is primarily in the form of career- and/or business-related sound bites, shared videos, announcements of upcoming webinars, highlights of training programs at colleges, such as for nurse leadership, legislative issues and more.

Nursing Informatics is the blog of HIMSS, a “global, cause-based, not-for-profit organization focused on better health through information technology (IT).” Blog post topics include news, survey results and analysis, nursing knowledge, general health, organizational issues and more. In the post My Contribution to Nursing Knowledge, Mary Beth Mitchell, an MSN, RN, and CNIO (Chief Nursing Informatics Officer), relates an experience where her 87-year old mother introduced her to a 90-year old friend who happened to be a 30-years retired physician who was not sold on the value of EHR (Electronic Health Records). In the rest of the post, Mitchell goes into depth into explaining nursing informatics and how, while very hard work, improves clinicians experience and, as a result, patient outcomes.

Turn the Other Cheek shares the positive payoff that can come from turning the other cheek even when patients’ family members come off as rude, but who actually have legitimate emotional reasons for their behavior.

Old Timer? talks about the transition from being a newbie in a hospital unit to someone with a bit of time under their belt.

Dear Nurses is a veteran blog that launched in May 2006. Each post typically summarizes a clinical session and offers either an illustration depicting the situation, or a video of a sequence of illustrations. Recent posts include the following:

“Marijke: nurse turned writer” is the blog of Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN, a long-time writer about nursing and health, and also an author. Her own experience covers a range that includes rehab, ICU, palliative care, pediatrics and more. Recent posts include the following:

The NurseGail site is in stylish online magazine format and equal parts news, articles and blog posts. It is run by Gail Ingram, BSN, RN, and Mia Ross, BSN, RN, and a number of nurse and nurse practitioner contributors. Topics included health and medicine, food, beauty, sex, fitness and aging gracefully, parenting, medtech and more. Recent posts include the following:

Why Fake Marijuana Is Sending Kids To The ER talks about the 100+ cases in New York alone of kids ending up in the ER due to chemical substances in synthetic marijuana, and how producers are skirting around laws by constantly changing those substances.

Travel Nursing Central is a comprehensive site for travel nurse, offering information on hospital and agency rankings, tax advice, tools to for finding or listing housing, finding a recruiter and more. Blog content includes news, advice and checklists. Recent posts include the following:

Confident Voices in Healthcare is a multi-author blog published by Beth Boynton, RN, MS. Boynton writes nursing text books and other nursing educational materials, and has been published in numerous journals and websites. Blog content is written by a number of bloggers and covers both nursing and general healthcare topics. Recent posts include the following:

RTConnections Nurse Blog supplements the main site, which focuses on nursing education, keynotes, resources events and more, and has a particular agenda of anti-bullying. Dr. Renee Thompson, CEO and President, has over 20 years experience as a nurse, nurse educator and executive. Blog topics cover general nursing issues but have a particular focus on bullying in the workplace — a serious concern for nurses. Recent posts include the following:

What if the Bully is You? turns the proverbial mirror on the reader and suggests five questions to ask themselves to determine if maybe they are guilty of bullying people.

highlights some of the surprising statistics of nurse-to-nurse bullying, including how many nurses quit in their first year due to the behavior of co-workers.

Not Everything is Bullying highlights the fact that with bullying incidents under the media spotlight, that other behaviors are sometimes being mislabeled as bullying if the net outcome is undesirable.

Nurse Barb’s Daily Dose is the blog of nurse Barb Dehn, RN, MS, NP. Dehn is the recipient of awards for her pregnancy and breastfeeding guides, and is the author of a book, The Hot Guide to a Cool Sexy Menopause. She is also a consultant, TV host and more. The site’s content goes beyond nursing and covers women’s health, parenting, caregiving, health living and more. Recent posts include the following:

Travel Nursing News and Blog is produced by Fastaff Travel Nursing staffing agency. Content topics are mostly relevant to all nurses, though some posts are specifically about travel nursing. The blog is multi-authored. Recent posts include the following:

5 Ways to Keep your Feet Happy & Healthy talks about the many thousands of miles the average adult American logs by age 50 and the significantly higher total distance travel nurses put in, and throws in some tips for maintaining foot health.

TravelNursingBlogs.com: Travel Nursing Advice combines a nursing jobs site with advice and information in the form of blog posts. While the content is mostly relevant to travel nursing, some posts are about the nursing profession in general. Recent posts include the following:

Nurse Managers blog is published by HCPro, a company that provides information related to revenue cycle management, hospital accreditation, nursing, medical coding and billing and more. The blog posts often have a contemplative feel, a sharing of knowledge and experience. Recent posts include the following:

Nursing research: Understanding whistleblowing ponders why nurses are willing to risk their careers to blow the whistle on questionable practices. The article references an Australian study that essentially concludes that the primary reason is that nurses are patient advocates.

Nursing@Simmons is the blog of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Simmons College. Post content includes solid educational information for both nurses and nursing students. Recent posts include the following:

How FNPs Can Help Patients Prevent CHD provides some guidelines as to how Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) can help educate patients in preventing Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), with tips specifically a number of age groups.

Where Can Nurse Practitioners Work Without Physician Supervision? goes into depth about the history of Nurse Practitioner programs in the USA and how physicians organizations have historically opposed them, and the subsequent recent changes that allow NPs to practice in many states either with or without physician oversight — complete with a color-coded state map.

ER Nurse Insanity: The Traveling Years are the musings of two nurse bloggers, Shrtstormtrooper and Hood Nurse (recent addition who has her own blog) who have experience in travel nursing. Topics: anything relevant appears fair game, including the trials and tribulations of the industry. Warning: Some NSFW language. Recent posts include the following:

Wit reflects upon Shrtstormtrooper’s recent experience caring for an “ancient” woman who was witty, funny and sharp of mind but had a daughter not aging as well mentally.

Feelings discusses Shrtstormtroopers usual tolerance for rudeness from cancer patients, but highlights the interaction with one such patient whose rudeness went well beyond the limits, causing her to lose sympathy for him.

Bougie, but not the useful kind talks about the shift in the hospital that Shrtstormtrooper works at towards being like a “fancy-pants clinic” more interested in providing a hotel-like experience where the role of nursing takes a back seat.

What We Should Calling Nursing is an unique, humorous approach to blogging that offers visual soundbites from TV shows and movies, with some text to tie in to various situations in the profession of nursing. Browse this blog for a bit of stress relief. Recent posts include the following:

This blog is by nurse Donna Cardillo, RN, who gives keynote speeches, is a humorist and offers inspiration and motivation to other nurses. In addition to the blog posts – which are a combination of sound bites and longer pieces – the main site provides articles, info on keynote speeches and seminars, career development products and more. Recent posts include the following:

Even Nurses Make Mistakes makes the possibly difficult admission that nurses are not perfect, and how to deal with the realization.

Nurses Are Not Machines cautions nurses who work three 12-hour shift days and then on their time off work at other jobs without giving themselves time for mental and physical relaxation.

Nurses Are Always ‘On Call’ highlights an incident where Cardillo saw a woman in a parking lot struggling to help her physically unstable elderly father, and after helping them, the realization that nurses are always nurses, even when not on duty.

JParadisi’s RN blog offers the writing of a oncology nurse navigator, awarding-winning artist and cancer survivor whose paintings have appeared in various publications and galleries, and who writes for other online publications as well. Recent posts include the following:

JParadisi RN Painting in AJN Art of Nursing references one of JParadisi’s paintings int he Apr 2015 issue of American Journal of Nursing, and offers to donate to the Knight Cancer Challenge 20% of sales of any of her paintings at a particular clinic.

PixelRN is a general blog about nursing that has veteran status – having been launched in 2005 by Beth Coll Anderson, a nurse, photographer and illustrator. While a bit sparse in frequency of late, there is value in what she posts. Anderson also posts on Twitter with greater frequency. Recent posts include the following:

The Pelvic Exam: How often do you need one? speculates on why women are still getting pelvic exams despite the Jul 2014 guidelines of the American College of Physicians indicating that asymptomatic women do not need yearly exams.

Low FODMAP Diet for IBS advises that nurses stay updated on national health trends including the treatment of GI disorders , then summarizes the Low FODMAP Diet for IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and what to know about using it for patients.

DiversityNursing blog deals with issues of gender, age, sexual orientation, disability and other marginalizing categories in the field of nursing employment, as well as general health and wellbeing. Recent posts include the following:

Can a Person With Dementia Consent to Sex? asks a tough question in relation to a recent case where a 78-year old man was initially charged with rape of his ill wife, who suffers from Alzheimer’s and lives in a nursing home – a situation which is actually more common than might be thought, that dementia patients have sex lives.

Not Nurse Ratched is a blog that by nurse who is also a writer and medical editor, photographer and self-professed geek. The blog covers nursing, medicine, personal life, humor, technology and more. Recent posts include the following:

Obligatory Apple Watch post talks about the new Apple Watch, general impressions – good and bad – and the blogger’s intent to use the health and fitness features.

Narcotic free-for-all at the clinic highlights some flaws in the current system when patients have to reveal their medical needs to non-medical staff at clinics, and discusses some of the changes that come clinics have implemented that are complicating matters.

An oncology nurse who is a leader and manager blogs on Nursetopia about the profession, business, confessions, and with a side helping of art, freebies and giveaways. Recent posts include the following:

My Strong Medicine is the blog of Sean Dent, an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner who coaches, is a mobility maven and an USAW weightlifter. The blog is accompanied by The Sean Dent Show YouTube podcast series, whose episodes are often in the format of “X things they don’t teach you about Y.” Recent posts include the following:

The Nursing Show is a video podcast series with weekly episodes (now over 100) hosted by Jamie Davis, RN, EMT-P. This blog accompanies the podcast series, and posts either highlight an episode or discuss news, events or situations in the field of nursing. Recent posts include the following:

New Nurse-Run Clinic in Minneapolis discusses the community benefit of a new state law in Minnesota which allows advance practice nurses (Nurse Practitioners, Nurse Midwives, Nurse Anesthetists) to have their own patients, without physician oversight.

ANA Nursespace is the multi-author blog of the American Nurses Association, with contributors typically being nurses with a variety of backgrounds. Recent posts include the following:

The Answer to Your Frustrations in Nursing, by Lorie Brown, a registered nurse and attorney, talks about the difficulties some nurses are experiencing due to work conditions that result in them being charged with violating the NPA (Nurse Practice Act) and what they can do about the situation by remembering an acronym, GIFTS: giving, integrity, focus, trust, source.

Nursing and advancement in technology is by a nurse educator in an university health system who offers some thoughts about continuous education for nurses, requirements of the ACA (Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare), and the need for not only home health care workers based out of hospitals but a system where by their evaluation of patients can be relayed back to hospitals.

A hospital might be the last place you would expect it but violence does happen in hospitals and the post

This multi-author blog from Nursingjobs.org offers tips of interest to nurses as well as general health, as a supplement to the main site, which provides job listings, a form, book resources list and info on schools. Recent posts include the following:

NurseBuff is a humor and lifestyle blog about nursing, with entertaining and informative list articles, a nursing career guide, NCLEX exam practice questions and more. Recent posts include the following:

The Nerdy Nurse is the blog of Brittney Wilson, BSN, RN, which feels more like a magazine, has the occasional guest blogger, and goes beyond nursing topics in terms of content. This includes articles about family, humor, products of interest to nurses, travel and more. Wilson is also the author of the book The Nerdy Nurse’s Guide to Technology, which won first place in the the AJN (American Journal of Nursing) 2014 Book of the Year award. Recent posts include the following:

Scrubsmag is a combination magazine and blog whose self-described motto is “The nurses guide to good living.” The articles cover a wide range of topics including general health, nursing school, career, beauty and styles, humor and more. Recent posts include the following:

“NurseZone: Ask The Expert” is one of two active nursing blogs at NurseZone, and has been around since Feb 2008. It is currently written by Aaron Moore, MSN, RN-BC, who is presented as a travel nurse expert. Recent posts include the following:

16. [Removed]

RN Talk is one of a handful of blogs at the Nursezone site. This one is written by E’Louise Ondash, RN and has been around since Jan 2008. Recent posts include the following:

Are We Halfway There Yet? discusses the century-plus debate of whether nurses should have a college degree or not (hospitals said no), and a report from IOM (Institute of Medicine) that recommends a significant increase in degreed nurses by 2020.

The Nursing Site is the musing of Kathy Quan (RN, BSN), a veteran nurse with over 30 years of experience in home health care, hospice, field, supervising and more. In addition to be a nurse blogger, she’s also the author of five books. Recent posts include the following:

“Madness: tales of an emergency room nurse” is a blog from a veteran nurse that injects a sense of humor into the realities of nursing, alternating photos of handsome young men (“man candy”) with serious and semi-serious writings. Recent posts include the following:

SEPSIS is the new black talks about the trend to assume a patient is septic, regardless of the health issue, and to treat them for sepsis.

It ain’t rocket science folks analyzes the attempt of hospitals to win “the almighty patient satisfaction sweepstakes,” and discusses a list of things hospitals could be doing to really satisfy patients.

In Digital Doorway, Nurse Keith offers his thoughts on contemporary nursing, healthcare and associated careers. He also does “holistic career coaching” and has a podcast, The Nurse Keith Show. Recent posts include the following:

What’s On Your Career Runway? uses an airport as a metaphor for your nursing career, asks you to reflect on whether you are on the right “runway,” what the flight conditions are, if you have any baggage, and who is in charge.

“Head Nurse: Brain on the Top, Spine Down the Back” is a tongue-in-cheek, sometimes serious blog about one nurse’s life, both personal and professional. NOTE: occasional NSFW language. Recent posts include the following:

Things got a little busy talks about Head Nurse’s busy life, a death amongst her friends, her boyfriend (aka Boyfiend) and his impending surgery and more.

The Makings of a Nurse is a blog by Nurse Teeny (short for Kristine), an oncology nurse with a Clinical Nurse Leadership certification who is working towards being a Nurse Practitioner. The blog explores the contemporary nursing profession in general, as well as Teeny’s own chronic illness. Recent posts include the following:

Going Lean and Green highlights some healthful recipes that Teeny and her husband are trying, partially in relation to her surgery.

Minority Nurse blog is an accompaniment to the magazine of the same name. The blog and site in general provides resources for nurses from a number of “minority” backgrounds, including African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian and more. Recent posts include the following:

The Lonely Nurse emphasizes the importance of having a social support circle, especially if you have a nursing career that takes you on the road daily or regularly.

“Nursing Informatics & Technology: A Blog for All Levels of Users” is another of the handful of nursing-related blogs from ADVANCE Web. It is a multi-author blog written by veterans in nursing, and covers the ways that technology is used in nursing (especially for informatics), and attempts to engage other nurses in the conversation. Recent posts include the following:

Nurse on the Run is another in a set of nursing blogs from ADVANCE Web. It is written by a veteran BSN/RN nurse who started in long-term care and acute inpatient care, and is now in emergency nursing. Recent posts include the following:

ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses is a multi-author blog from ADVANCE Web which covers issues pertaining to the nursing career, including the areas of clinical, management and career development. Recent posts include the following:

Gender & Salary in Nursing discusses the findings of a journal report that discovered the average salary differences between male and female nurses in the United States.

NICHE: Innovation Through Leadership discusses an international initiative, NICHE (Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders), which looks to improving the healthcare experience of older adults and increasing their trust in nurses.

Evidence-Based Nursing journal is the blog of the EBN journal, which analyzes and discusses events and news in this branch of nursing – which utilizes the personal clinical experience of nurses, and applies a multi-step approach to collect evidence, analyze and integrate it, then evaluate and disseminate the results. Recent posts include the following:

Healthcare and the LGBT Community which discusses the health risks that the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered) community has – especially mental health issue and reduced rate of having regular checkups. It provides some resource links for health care practitioners who want to understand how better to serve the LGBT community.

Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Blogs is the multi-author blog of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, which offers tips for students from nurses who have graduated, stories of personal dreams and experiences, recaps of community events and more. Recent posts include the following:

Fitting My Square into a Circle, about going from one career dream to finding that nursing is the profession the writer wanted to be in, and how common this transition has become.

Nurse interrupted about nurse’s story of her mother’s (also a nurse) heart attack and subsequent brain death, followed by the writer’s own reaction to the event a few days later (heart attack-like anxiety and black out), which was misinterpreted by a hospital admitting nurse as some sort of mental illness episode.